MAGAZINE
SEP 2017
typewire
ISSUE 05
SEP 2017
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“Swiss Style was becoming stagnant and needed to be challenged” W
eingart has been revolutionising typography rules since the 1960’s and has shaped generations of designers as a teacher of typography. He is known for having a rebellious mind-set in regards to design process and pushing the limits of what is percieved as the “norm” and encouraged his students to test the limits of readability in typography. He felt that Swiss Style was becoming stagnant and needed to be challenged which his works and later his students works became a testament to. Born in 1941 in Germany, Weingart is an internationally recognised typographer and graphic designer, known to
many as the “enfant terrible” of modern Swiss typography. In the early 1970’s, he is credited with developing the ‘New Wave’ typography, also referred to as “Swiss Punk”. Weigngart is said to have broken the mould of classical Swiss typography. Weingart was born in a valley, near the Swiss Border. His artistic talents were first noticed by a primary school teacher, who gave him private lessons to help nurture his talent. Eager to learn, at the age of 17, Weingart enrolled in a two year course of applied art and design. Here he learned the process of sketching, planning for linoleum and other print-making techniques.
While studying, he carried on working on his own personal projects to further develop his skills. He had a keen interest in handsetting type and printing and it was at this time where he first encountered metal type. At the time he stated he “could not foresee the potential, nor the creative freedom that awaited the typsetter with our twentysiz movable letters and their affiliated signs.” In 1960, still only 19, he began a three year apprenticeship at Ruwe Printing, which is where
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he truly began his familiarity and appreciation of Swiss typography as well as mastering the techniques of letterpress printing. It was during this time where he began to become more experimental with his own work, experimenting with different letter spacing and the repetition of words on a page. He started working on an independent project in which he would combine new signs with the letter ‘M’, experimenting with changing size, positions and angles.
“I took Swiss Typography as my starting point, but then I blew it apart” SEP 2017
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It was out of curiosity that he began twisting, bending and deconstructing the letter. It is projects like this that are said to be the potential beginning of his influence. Weingart began to feel “everything that made me curious was forbidden — to question established typographic practice, change the rules, and reevaluate its potential.” This began Weingart’s intense focus
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on new uses of traditional and Swiss typography practices and was responsible for the creation of New Wave, the very style of design that would not only rocket Weingart to international fame, but live on in popularity for decades to come. “I took Swiss Typography as my starting point, but then I blew it apart, never forcing any style upon my students. I never intended create a ‘style’”.